Is it more important, in terms of individual happiness, to make a lot of money and then be able to do what you want, or to forget about the almighty dollar and just do what you love as a profession?
This is a problem I find myself struggling with as I attempt to plot out my life. On the one hand, because money is necessary to buy goods and services, having a great deal of it would sure make life easier. Having fiscal security is increasingly important in these troubling times. Plus, with a solid fortune to back you up, you would be able to fund expensive interests and travel the world without worrying about your bank account. Life would be easy to enjoy without the strain of monetary burdens.
Then again, once you spent your younger years working your tail off to climb to the top of the company ladder, wouldn't you be too old and too tired to enjoy your wealth? Would you gaze longingly at the time you wasted in a job you hated, wishing that you could've been somewhere else? Would you be happier in a shabby apartment doing what you are passionate about, or in a luxurious mansion doing what you can't stand?
For the sake of argument I've chosen the extremes of the spectrum, but you can easily apply this line of reasoning to any number of circumstances. Is money necessary for happiness?
Taylor Burke
"It's hard to remember we're alive for the first time
It's hard to remember we're alive for the last time
It's hard to remember to live before you die
It's hard to remember that our lives are such a short time
It's hard to remember when it takes such a long time"
-Modest Mouse
7 comments:
The best answer to this question would be find a job that you like and make a lot of money by doing it. This was certainly the case for Bill Gates; however, we know that this isn't quite simple as it sounds. We would all agree that finding one's true passion is rather challenging and, especially for us, with college stepping into our reality closer than ever, we feel as if we should make the important decision of our lives soon(=very stressful).
Money v. passion? I would try to acheive both as hard as I can, but I would stand on a more realistic side of this debate. True, money cannot equal happiness, but it can certainly be a source of one's happiness. Money may not be a necessity for someone's happiness, but most people's definition of happiness would include comfort, prosperity, or living without having to work-which means having a lot of money.
Society tends to follow Taylor's first scenario. Students work hard to get lucrative professions, and adults choose careers with higher salaries. Most people look up to their ideal lives in the future and believe that their hard work now will pay off later. Although people wish to follow their hearts, reality often betrays their dreams. Isn't this part of the paradox in American Dream?
Jennifer Park
They tell us that ambition can find us both happiness and wealth. But it doesn't really work that way, does it? I'd personally pick being happy over being wealthy anyday. Sure, I'd have to give things up, but it's worth it if I could wear a smile each day to contrast whatever I could afford to clothe myself with. At this point, we can only hope that we hit the jackpot with both.
Society is going to find a way to weigh you down, no matter the circumstance. If you're rich but happy, people are going to talk about you like they did Gatsby. If you're happy and poor, people are going to criticize your lack of material goods. Since there's no escape, we shoot for safeties in the middle of the spectrum. We strive for moderate incomes and moderately happy lifestyles. Could it be that society prohibits us from reaching to the top, while it acts as if it is encouraging us?
(Sam Maliha)
I have a very hard time believing that money provides happiness, or even that money is the source of happiness. As Taylor mentioned, this is a question that is particularly significant at this time in ours lives. Because we have no guarantees regarding what is in store for the rest of our lives, we must choose a goal and strive for it. I imagine that it would be difficult to strive for both money and passion. One might be a benefit of the other, but I think that we must ultimately choose which is more important. I want to spend the rest of my life doing something that I am passionate about, and I hope that the issue of money will not be an issue at all-- not that I will have a lot of money, but that I will be content with what I have and excited about what I do.
Emily T.
It really all depends on who you are asking this question to. As Jen stated, the happiness of some people lie in earning a large amount of money. At the same time, however, I've heard stories of people who are fine making the least amount possible to survive as long as they can do what they love to do.
However there are negative sides to both of these extremes. A person who loves their job may be viewed as being obsessed with their job, while a person with so much money may be viewed as being obsessed with making money.
In the end, a person will just have to consider what is most important and try to consider the consequences of the choices he or she makes in order to get the future he or she desires.
I'm going to be brutally honest and say that, chances are, none of us are really qualified to make the decision between pursuing money over happiness (Provided that, at a point, the road to these two ends diverges for you). We are, after all, hardly acquainted with fiscal insecurity and the hardships that come with it. To say that you would definitely choose a path that leads to simpler happiness over one of corporate drudgery and unfulfilled dreams is a shockingly basic one.
Now, I realize that some of you may be referring to the most extreme end of the spectrum in terms of pursuing a lucrative job etc. but I'm going to move slightly more towards the middle. While a happy medium does exist, if I were to err to either side, I would probably tend towards the money side.
Why? Simply because even the simply happiness that we have experienced in our lives has occurred against a backdrop of financial security. Maybe I'm being a bit too realistic in my views, but I feel that when we as people hardly acquainted with the "real world" choose "happiness" (Not to mention how vague a word that is..) over money, we make a decision we are not terribly well-versed in.
Well, it's an excellent question, one that many an aspiring artist or musician has faced. While we like to say that money cannot buy happiness, it certainly can provide comfort and security. Of course, happiness is merely a state of mind: those who believe that they are happy are happy. More than just a lot of or a lack of money, personality and disposition are what truly determine if one is "happy."
Of course, whichever life one chooses, he'll always be left wondering about the path not taken. But that's an idle exercise. Those who are truly happy would not look back and regret their actions, no matter what they were. Similarly, no matter how successful they are in pursuing money or their passions, some people will never be satisfied.
Ideally, one could pursue money and passion at the same time, and it does happen...
-Eric W
I personally question the assertion that "none of us are really qualified to make the decision between pursuing money over happiness." If we are not qualified, then who is? Obviously WE are in control of our own futures, and consequently, we at least have SOME level of leverage when it comes to money versus happiness. As Eric stated, "happiness" largely stems from one's personality or outlook, and we can't deny the fact that certain careers are inevitably bound to pay more than others do. Hence, this is the reason why we even discuss the issue of "money vs. happiness," because many people feel a lack of one or both of them.
(Janet Lee)
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